Allergist Appointment & the Holidays

We have our first allergist appointment tomorrow. When I say first, I literally mean first. Even though my son has been allergic to peanuts for four years, we have always relied on our pediatrician and our own investigating for his allergy. However, I felt it was finally time to see an allergist and get her opinion on where we stand. I know she’s not going to be able to tell me if he will outgrow this but I would like to know where the allergists stand on a future “cure”. I’ll post about our experience after the appointment.

On another note, we made it through the holidays reaction-free. However, we did find ourselves in a very unsettling situation on Saturday night. We were at a Christmas party and my aunt made a peanut butter cake forgetting about Alex’s allergy. That’s fine, I made a dessert too, one he could have. As I wandered into the kitchen I noticed a bowl of nuts. Oh goody. I told Alex not to go near the bowl or the counter it was on. I did let him eat the chips that were in the bowl on the other counter. About an hour later I saw my aunt get a handful of nuts and then go and put her hand in the bowl of chips. Needless to say my breath was caught in my throat at this sight. Alex did not get any more chips the rest of the night and I remembered that we are always learning with this allergy.

Happy tears or sad tears?

I got the phone call today that my 18-month-old daughter is not allergic to peanuts. Yay right? Wrong. Since I got the phone call that Isabelle is not allergic, I can’t stop crying. I don’t know if it’s tears because I’m happy or tears because my daughter can lead a normal life but my son can’t. Just typing those words made me cry more so I’m going to guess it’s the latter. Although I am completely and utterly ecstatic that Isabelle is not allergic, it hurts me so much to think that Alex is. I have felt guilty ever since this whole testing thing started that I was wishing and praying for her to be clear of this allergy. Now that she is I feel terrible that Alex isn’t. I know this will pass and eventually we will get back to our regularly scheduled lives but right now I’m conflicted. Joy and pain all at the same time.

Wonderful Article

If you would like a glimpse of what others are dealing with when it comes to food allergies, please visit Rocks in My Dryer for their guest post this week.

Labeling

Is anyone else as confused about labeling as I am? I know that the FDA put the new labeling laws into effect to help us and to some point it has. We no longer have to worry about some scientific sounding word being a synonym for peanuts. My problem is with the “may contains”.

There is a new FDA guideline being considered to change the labeling once again. I can only hope that a “may contain” law goes through. I am so torn on some products that I confuse my family, my husband and even myself. For instance, I am not 100% positive that Oreo’s and Chips Ahoy are safe. I’m pretty sure they aren’t made on a dedicated line but when you call Nabisco/Kraft they give you the run around and say that if the product contains peanuts it will be labeled as such. That doesn’t help me. I would prefer that my son not be exposed to peanuts at all. Allergy wash or not.

I remember specifically not putting those on the safe snack list for Alex’s class. But yet I put down Fig Newtons and Teddy Grahams, both made by Nabisco. What was my reasoning for that? I have no idea. I really am confused. While putting the new “may contain” law into effect will probably take away at least of half the stuff Alex eats right now, it will put my mind at ease knowing that he is eating something without a peanut exposure. I truly hope that this law gets passed so that we can look forward to a more specific label.

Halloween Handover

Alex will be trick-or-treating like every other child in our neighborhood this year however when he gets home, he will hand over his bag for a bag that has been prepared especially for him. Rather than take the chance of cross-contamination I decided to gather up some safe candy and other little treats and put them in a bag for Halloween night. If, while we are out I see something that I  know is perfectly safe, such as playdough or juice boxes etc. I will get that for him and put it in a bag that I will carry. This just makes life a little easier while still getting to enjoy the fun of Halloween. I’m very tempted to make up a sign to wear around his neck that says he’s allergic to peanuts but I’m not sure if that’s taking it too far.

Speaking of fun, my kiddos are going to look super cute this year. My daughter, who will be 17-months-old at trick-or-treat time is going as Minnie Mouse and Alex will be going as Mickey Mouse. They are going to look adorable!! I can hardly wait.

Public School

So Alex has been in public school now for a week and a half. He is really enjoying spending time with the kids. It takes some prodding but I can usually figure out what he did during his time at school. I feel comfortable with the precautions the school is taking this year. We have a plan of action in place, there was a letter sent home to all kindergartners and then a letter sent home to the whole school letting parents know there is a child with a life-threatening peanut allergy attending. His classroom is peanut-free and all snacks must be from a pre-approved list that I made.  Even birthday treats must come from the list.

I think the fact that I had tried homeschooling really made the school administrators realize how terrified I was of sending him to school. Thus they took every precaution they could without making the entire school peanut-free. I’m happy about that. Alex needs to know where he can and can’t make adjustments.

So things are going well. The only thing that I was surprised to hear Alex tell me was that he was excited that he didn’t have to eat a different snack than everyone else. He was beaming when he told me that they all got the same snack. My sweet boy. I never thought he minded having a different snack in preschool, I guess he did but never said anything. It breaks my heart to think about him hurting. At least now he’s happy.

Homeschool Failure

I can’t do it. I wanted to. I just can’t. I called the elementary school that Alex was suppose to attend and got the ball rolling to put him into the kindergarten class. We have a meeting on Friday where we will discuss our concerns and what protocols Alex will need.

I have been having an internal battle again about whether this was the right decision. This is just so tough. I just feel that Alex will have a better education in the public school system. It’s not that I feel what I taught was wrong. He just doesn’t have much of an interest in learning and I feel that a person who was taught how to teach would be better for him. I will do what I can at home to help him but he needs that classroom experience.

Is this the end of our saga? Probably not. Will he ever be homeschooled again? I can’t say for certain. I hope that this decision is the right one. When I told him that homeschool wasn’t really working for us I asked if he wanted to go to school. He replied with a sigh “well, I do miss my friends”, maybe if he is around kids his own age he will get interested in learning.

The Dreaded “H” Word

For the last two years Alex has gone out trick-or-treating like any normal child. I would come home and exchange the candy he couldn’t have with candy or chips that he could have. Lately though I have been reading about parents who do not let their child TOT at all. I can understand that. It’s horribly scary to think about your child touching all that candy with heaven knows what kind of residue on it.

To be honest, it never crossed my mind that p.b. cups that were in the same bowl as a mini Hershey bar** could cross contaminate the wrapper of said Hershey bar and thus get on my son’s hands and into his mouth. Now that I’ve read it and heard other parents agree, it makes sense.

So now I am wondering what we should do this year. I think Alex will be very upset if I say that TOT is out this year. He was just starting to really get into the whole knocking on the door thing. I’ve thought about just going up to the door with him and if the bowl has candy mixed with p.b. candies, I’ll place it in a separate bag that I carry. All known safe candy would go in his bag. This sounds very tedious though and I think many people would think I’m some crazy sugar-Nazi mom. Ugh. I don’t know what to do.

I thought about a family Halloween party but part of the fun of getting dressed up is having the neighbors see you. Last year Alex went as a scarecrow and Isabelle, who was only 5-months-old at the time, went as Dorothy. They were so cute!

So that’s what is weighing on my mind right now. It’s trivial I know but to a 5-year-old it’s a big deal.

**I know that the mini Hershey bars say “may contain almonds” but since he’s not tree-nut allergic it’s in my comfort zone.

Another good dining experience. Carraba’s

We went out to dinner on Sunday night and had some errands to run before eating. I completely forgot to bring food for Alex so I was taking a chance that there would be something on the menu for him to eat. I told the waitress right away about his peanut allergy and she went back to the kitchen to get some information. I was very happy to hear that they do not use peanut oil or have peanut products of any kind in the kitchen. They did however have pine nuts, but truthfully, that did not bother me. He was able to get spaghetti and meatball (just one, Lol) with no worries. Just because he could have it though did not mean he ate it. Lol. The boy just doesn’t like eating anymore.

So, there you have it, another great dining experience for us. I know this would be out of the comfort zone of many parents but for us, it was great.

RAST scores at a glance.

I just found the paper that had Alex’s RAST scores written down and I decided to document it here so that I can keep it for future use. I know that these numbers basically don’t tell me anything and that anaphylaxis can happen regardless of your class but it is still a bummer that his lowest score was his second year. It really surprises me because he ate may contains at that time without me even knowing it. I wasn’t as educated in the beginning and he ate things then that I would not let him have now. Funny that his second score was the lowest. So here they are:

• October 2004 – 3.63 Class 3
• October 2005 – 1.09 Class 2
• February 2007 - 2.63 Class 2
• June 2008 – 3.81 Class 3